In addressing you on the subject of investing your surplus
funds, I might state that there is no other subject which I
could select that so closely concerns your welfare and regarding
which you might receive valuable assistance from my instructions.
In the United States a stupendous sum, reaching into
millions of dollars, is wasted annually in foolish speculations
and unwise investments. This senseless waste can be traced
to one and only one source, namely, lack of knowledge. Men
and women who would not attempt to treat the slightest
ailment, or even adjust so common a thing as a kitchen faucet,
but would hand each difficulty over to its respective specialist,
the doctor or the plumber, will on the spur of the moment
and without the slightest preparation, undertake the investment
of thousands of dollars in enterprises about which they
understand absolutely nothing. Is it any wonder then that
they lose?
I offer you suggestions and advice in the science of speculation
and investment in the same spirit as the physician. He
would not think of guaranteeing you perpetual life or insuring
you against the common ills to which the flesh is heir.
But in your difficulties he brings to your aid the accumulated
experience of his profession, and a skill and knowledge which
required years to accumulate and is ready for your instant
use. I do not offer you a beautiful theory which will not
work in practice, but give you invaluable advice, which if
followed, will insure success in practical everyday Wall Street
speculations and other fields of investment.
It has been well said that a writer who writes first for
remuneration and secondly because he believes what he
writes, will never achieve enduring fame, and that the salesman
who does not believe in his goods will never make a
success. I believe in the theory and rules that I have laid
down in this book for you to follow, because I have tested
and proved them.
It is my object in this work to facilitate and focalize the
essential principles for practical use. My knowledge comes
from over twenty years' experience, in which I have traversed
the rough and rugged road that the inexperienced trader's
foot must press before he reaches the goal. Hence my object
in writing this book is to give to the public something new
and practical, not theory alone which would fail in practice.
Read this book carefully several times; study each chart
and subject thoroughly, and a new light and knowledge will
come to you every time you read it.
If I succeed in teaching only a few to leave wild gambling
alone and follow the path of conservative speculation and
investment, my work will not have been in vain and I will
have been amply repaid for my efforts.

W.D. GANN.